Corrupt Dib - An Invader ZIM AU fanfic

Chapter 2

Time had passed. Dib was floating in a murky darkness. He didn't know where he was, not that that was important. He also couldn't remember who he was in the moment, but that didn't matter much either. A silent voice cut through the haze. A familiar voice. So harsh and some part of him was glad to hear it. At least his enemy would be stuck in this nothingness of a void with him. He was gleeful until a wave of pain rolled over him. The haze seemed to grow lighter almost, as his name was called out over and over again. "Dib," the voice said. Oh, right. He was Dib. That was him. His eyes fluttered as the voice called his name again. "Dib." Dib was struggling to open his eyes, he almost longed to go back to the comforting nothingness. The pain he'd felt had ebbed into a weird dull ache. The voice became harsher as it called his name once more. "DIB!" The boy woke with a start. He blinked, then blinked again, looking down at his hands. "Finally, you're up," the voice said. The voice. It was Zim. 

"What happened?" Dib sat up and stared at his hands, there were wounds on them but they were quickly healing. Zim gave Dib a 'are you really asking me that right now?' look.

"Well, you obviously crashed." Zim replied bluntly.  "It also seems you've been modified"  Dib winced at the word modified. Modified? He suddenly felt something odd on his back. Something that up until now he had hardly felt, like it was an afterthought or natural. His eyes slid to his back, to gaze at what his new "modification" was. It was a PAK. An Irken PAK, like Zim's. 

"What does that mean?! Is that why there's a PAK on me?!" Dib shouted this at Zim. Zim was unfazed. 

"Yes, earth-monkey. But, you'll be fine. The Conversion isn't programmed to humans." Dib let out a sigh of relief. "At least, it wasn't the last time I visited Irk." Zim laughed, a harsh sounding cackle that more often than not annoyed Dib more than anything but at this moment it caused him to flinch. 

"What's- What's the Conversion?" Dib hoped he wasn't making a mistake in asking this. Zim stopped cackling and gave the young human a serious look. 

"It's a fool-proof plan my species has invented so that enemies of the empire never step foot on planet. It's what's kept the empire thriving and what's prevented any sort of invasion of another species on Irk. When a targeted enemy species lands on Irk, they're either immediately killed by trained soldiers or are transported to the labs. In the labs, they're sterilized and fitted with a PAK which slowly invades their entire nervous system, brains, and eventually corrupts them into becoming an Irken. It's quite a painful process too." He laughed again. "Many of our enemies have fallen this way and it's used as a form of torture on prisoners, too." Dib's expression was one of fear and disgust. How horrible. 

"So that's what's going to happen to me?" Dib looked despairingly up at the alien. Zim gawked at him for a minute or two.

"Have you no ears, worm? I already told you, it's not programmed to humans! So stop doing your human sobbing sounds and let's go back to Earth." 

"I wasn't sobbing, Zim." Zim hissed at him. 

"Regardless, we need to go. I can't have the Tallest know that I'm here, it'll appear as if I'm slacking on my mission!" he shouted, louder than Dib would have liked. Dib noticed that Tak's ship was nearby, about 10 feet away, and it was completely unscathed. Weird. "I'm taking my voot and don't think about following me, earth-stink! I'm working on my next full proof plan and I don't need your wormy ape hands all over it." The human rolled his eyes in annoyance. His back was aching slightly, though, so he just ignored Zim and climbed into his own ship. 

Dib glanced at the sheer perfection of the ship. It was almost too perfect. "Ship, did you repair yourself?" The shipped made a whirring sound as though it was turning on.

"Of course I did. That's what we're programmed to do. I thought you knew that with all your ape knowledge." Dib noticed that she was still sarcastic. 'Good. At least that one thing hasn't changed.' He rolled his eyes. "Now keep your noise tube closed and we might just get to Earth without any problems." Dib huffed, nodding his head in agreement. 'Wow, what a fun trip this will be.' he thought to himself. 

A strange figure was standing in front of him. When had he gotten here? He didn't remember. The figure's eyes began to glow, a glow that was eerily familiar to him. Familiar. Whose eyes were they? A name popped into his mind. Zim. Why was Zim here? Was this a trap? A mind trick? Dib couldn't think straight. There was a strange humming noise invading his mind. As the noise got louder, the figure moved closer. It was so close, in fact, that Dib could see the glint of its teeth in the pale light. It was smiling. He looked closer. The figure looked like Zim but something was off. It looked like...No. It couldn't be. Whatever this thing was, it looked like a strange amalgamation between himself and an Irken. His fear grew stronger, the noise grew louder, and the figure walked closer. The humming was almost deafening, but then a harsh cackle broke through it. It threatened to wash over him. It sounded like him, it was his laugh, but more Irken esque. He didn't under how or why. The noises became too much for him, and he let out a scream. His voice did not come back to him, instead it was just the same as the one cackling. He couldn't think, he couldn't breath. He shut his eyes and when he opened them, the figure was right in front of him. It jumped and seemed to phase into him. Suddenly, he and the figure were one being and he began to laugh. It wasn't his laugh anymore, it was something new. And it terrified him, so he began to scream once more as the world around him slowly faded into obscurity.